


Infuriating

by unknowableroom_archivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-07-28
Updated: 2008-08-19
Packaged: 2019-01-19 05:22:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 8,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12404067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unknowableroom_archivist/pseuds/unknowableroom_archivist
Summary: Victoire Weasley is infuriating. Teddy Lupin is discouraged. Victoire Weasley starts to realize Teddy Lupin is charming and perfect for her. But is it too late? COMPLETE =)





	1. Angels Can Be Infuriating

**Author's Note:**

> Note from ChristyCorr, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Unknowable Room](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Unknowable_Room), a Harry Potter archive active from 2005-2016. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project after May 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Unknowable Room collection profile](http://www.archiveofourown.org/collections/unknowableroom).

Victoire Weasley infuriates him. She has this _power_  over him, taking all his emotions and turning them inside out and sideways in two seconds flat. She is beautiful and rebellious and he loves her because she is his best friend and someone up there is really, really having a go at him.

Right now, he and Victoire are sitting on a plush couch in the Gryffindor common room. The fire barely reaches them, for Victoire has decided to sit in a secluded corner where she cannot be discovered. The flames do not warm Victoire's features, instead, she looks all the more ethereal, something from a fairytale. _Perhaps an angel_ , he thinks. An angel who is currently turning his insides to mush, who is making his heart beat with a life of its own as his hair turns dark red with annoyance.

"Victoire, can't you save your ogling for sometime when I'm not around? I'd like to keep my dinner down, you know." He can hear the sourness in his voice.

Victoire laughs and laces her fingers through his and he thinks he might die and go to heaven right now. She pouts her lips, pink and full and begging to be kissed, her eyes sparkling with mirth. "Teddy, won't you help your darling best friend out? You _know_ how much I fancy Roger Thomas, and he's a good mate of yours-"

"Exactly!" Teddy interrupts, although he half wishes he hadn't because Victoire's sweet voice has stopped washing over him. "I know how he is, Tor, a complete scummy bum with one thing on his mind. He's a teenage boy, after all."

"My, my, Teddy, you speak as though you aren't one yourself," Victoire smirks at him, one side of her lips curving upwards slightly, and Teddy hates that even when she is clearly insulting him, he finds her absolutely irresistable.

To her prior comment, he has no answer, except an irked expression accompanied by the infamous Lupin Eye-roll, reserved especially for Victoire. She is grinning at him, knowing she has gained a one-up, that he will not stop her from conquering Roger Thomas. Who could resist her charm? Not Roger. And certainly not Teddy, and so he gets up abruptly, wrenching his hand from her grip with a little more force than necessary. "You can choose to have your heart broken, Victoire, but I for one have a Transfiguration essay to complete."

With this he stalks away, clenching his fist to resist the impulse to turn around to look back at Victoire. He stomps up the boys' dormitory staircase, and Victoire watches him go with a puzzled expression on her face.

Teddy turns around, and wishes he hadn't, because Roger Thomas is walking over towards her with a winning smile on his arrogant face, and Victoire looks elated.


	2. You Aren't Pretty, Victoire.

 

"Don't you think that skirt is a bit too short?" Teddy asks, frowning from his spot under the oak tree.

Victoire gives him a flippant look and asks, "Why hide nice legs?" She proceeds to twirl around, her little silky skirt billowing upwards around her, causing the fallen colorful leaves around them to swirl upwards in a burst of color. Teddy groans inwardly. Did she have no idea what kind of effect she had on boys? Just because he had known her since she was born did not excuse him from her charms.

Teddy's hair has turned a bright, bright violet- he was frustrated and flustered. "I still don't think you need to go parading around like a-"

"Like a _what_?" Victoire whirls on him, silvery blonde hair whipping through the air, eyes flashing. "Go on, say it. You think I'm a common _slag_ or something?"

Teddy backpedals as fast as he can. "No, that's not what I meant-"

"Because, let me tell you, I have heard it all. ' _Oh, Victoire Weasley, she's not actually pretty. It's just because she's got Veela blood, its a mask for what she really is, a_ slut _.'"_ Victoire recites this bitterly, all the while advancing on Teddy.

"I don't think any of those things!" Teddy exclaims defensively, flinching expectantly as Victoire makes a sudden movement with her wand. She may have not inherited the red hair, but she had an advanced case of Weasley temper.

When a second later Teddy realizes his limbs are still intact, his shoulders relax and he steals a look at Victoire. At first he is not sure what magic has just taken place, but then he sees Victoire examining the hem of her skirt, which looks at least three inches longer. Her eyes are on the ground and she whispers, so softly he is not sure she has said anything at all, "Thanks."

He waits for her to elaborate. When she does nothing, he gets up and places a hand on each of her shoulders. "You don't need to wear flashy clothes to look good, Tor."

She doesn't meet his eye- her face is conflicted and stormy, and Teddy thinks the blades of dried grass her gaze is directed toward might burst into flames. "Do you think I'm pretty?" Victoire mumbles, bottom lip quavering.

Teddy lets out a bark of laughter before he can answer. "You're not pretty."

The Veela and Weasley roots are visible the fire in her eyes as she glares at him. She always takes things the wrong way. Teddy supposes it isn't her fault. People have fawned over her since the moment she was born, not excluding himself. She is about to say something snide, he can see it from the way her lips purse and her eyebrows scrunch downward.

He cuts her off. "You're _not_ pretty, Victoire. You're beautiful."

The anger leaves her face, but the insecurity is still there. "You mean it?" Her stare is piercing, she looks at him with such intensity that he is momentarily speechless.

"Don't listen to what other people say," he says once he has regained use of his vocal chords, voice a little hoarse, "you are beautiful, inside and out, and anyone who says its only because you're part Veela, or that you're not all that wonderful, is a right bitch."

Her lip trembles, and she crosses her arms as if to ward off some unseen ghost. "They're saying that the only reason Roger asked me out is because of the way I look."

Teddy realizes that if he speaks the truth, he can effectively get rid of Roger Thomas. If he speaks the truth, Victoire will see that Roger doesn't appreciate her as anything more than a trophy. If he speaks the truth, Victoire will break. So instead he says, "No way. He likes you because you're smart, and funny, and sweet..."

Victoire gives him a wan smile. "You are a horrible liar, Teddy Lupin."


	3. Chocolate Is Better Than Words, Sometimes.

 

Teddy Lupin takes after his father. He has a constant craving for chocolate. Any time, all the time. Chocolate frogs, chocolate flavored Bertie Botts, milk chocolate, white chocolate, dark chocolate, light chocolate (if there was such a thing.)

Currently it is two in the morning, and Teddy is having an especially strong craving. He glances outside- the night sky is illuminated by a full moon. Harry tells him all the time of how his father always ate chocolate as a remedy for any pain. Teddy supposes that turning into a werewolf and back would constitute an armful of the most potent cocoa-powdered bliss available.

Teddy curls his toes inward, then out. He blows his hair away from his eyes, and a second later it falls right back down. Gravity is such a useless thing. As is counting sheep, trying to fall asleep. Finally, he cannot take it anymore, and slips out of bed, careful to not wake his fellow seventh year Gryffindor boys. He pulls a worn parchment out from under his pillow- a third generation heirloom. When Harry had first given the map to him back in his third year, Teddy had shaken his head in confusion. Shouldn't Harry give it to his own son? Harry glared at him, green eyes flashing. _You're no less part of this family, and don't you forget that your father was a Marauder as much as mine was._ Teddy used to be very confused about family, but since then had realized that blood wasn't everything- just look at where that mentality had gotten his great-aunt Bellatrix.

Shaking thoughts of the war from his head, he silently slips on his trainers and makes his way down to the common room. The fire in the grate is burning low, leaving the space in near-darkness. Teddy swings open the portrait door, whipping out the map and scanning the corridors for any sign of Filch (honestly, when was he going to _retire_?) before making his way to the kitchens.

A mere twenty minutes later he makes his way gleefully back into the Gryffindor common room, laden with sweets. He is about to flop onto a couch and let the feast commence when he notices something glowing in the farthest corner of the room. Upon further examination he sees it is Victoire.

He can tell that she doesn't want to be seen, but that she knows it is too late to hide. Arming himself with a bar of milk chocolate, he ambles over to her, and his hair turns honeyed gold- his worry hair, Victoire calls it. She is curled up in a ball, sapphire eyes rimmed by red, teartracks visible on her pale face.

"Go away, Teddy." her voice is muffled and stuffy, and even as she says the words she resignedly makes room for him on the couch.

Teddy sits down gingerly, slightly wary. He is on a sugar high and not warmed up enough for an emotional conversation. However, it _is_ Victoire, so instead of making things worse by spewing something insensitive out of his mouth, he hands her a chocolate bar. She takes it with a small watery smile, and when her fingers brush Teddy's own, he has to fight the urge to clasp onto her hand as if he will never let go.

"I broke up with Roger Thomas."

Teddy tries to stop his hair from turning turquoise- he can be happy later. "What happened?" he asks through a mouthful of chocolate frog, which he had fished out of his pocket.

"I found him in a broom closet snogging Jessica whats-her-face from Ravenclaw." Victoire says this nonchalantly, but her face betrays her emotions.

"What a wanker." Teddy hesitantly lays his hand on hers as a gesture of comfort, and then a second later Victoire flings herself into his arms and is sobbing uncontrollably into his pajama shirt. Teddy wraps his arms around her securely, muttering mostly useless things softly and letting her cry. He thinks that her ragged sobs are anything but pretty. They are hurt, and angry, and maybe Victoire is human after all.

After a few minutes, or maybe an hour, Victoire has quieted down, breathing shakily against his chest. Teddy wishes he could hold her protectively for eternity, while simultaneously kicking Roger Thompson's arse with his left foot.

Finally he pulls back, smoothing silvery hair out of a silvery face. "Victoire?"

"Hmm?" She looks sleepy, and her big blue eyes look a little less sad.

"Let's get you up to bed. A girl needs her beauty sleep. And I have to look dashing, can't disappoint the ladies, can I?" It is not what he wants to say, but it gets a real smile out of Victoire. He helps her up and they walk to the staircase. At the base, he stops her. "Victoire?"

"Yes, Teddy?" His name sounds so sweet coming from her mouth.

"Everything's going to be okay." Teddy knows he has no business making such promises, but Victoire believes him. He bends down and places a soft kiss on her forehead, then races upwards to his dormitory.

Victoire stares after him, then at the chocolate laying abandoned on a table in the common room, then at her feet, trying to clear her suddenly swimming head and slow her heartbeat.


	4. Play Dead And I'll Kill You, Teddy Lupin!

"Teddy! Teddy!" shrieks Victoire.

He has just fallen off his broom and is lying quite still, keeping his eyes closed. This will be funny.

"Teddy!" James' and Albus' voices chime in. He feels a prod in his side, and hears James scolding, "Al! You can't poke him! He might be dead, and you oughtn't disturb the dead or they'll become ghosts and haunt you-"

"Oh, _honestly!_ " Victoire cries, and Teddy has to bite back a laugh- she sounds just like Aunt Hermione. He can almost imagine her pouting face, with her hands firmly planted on her hips. He resists peeking to see if she really _is_ channeling his favorite adopted bookish aunt, but he remains limp as a rag doll as she shakes him and orders, "Al, James, go get help!"

A second later, he feels Victoire's peppermint breath on his face, and her soft hair tickles his cheek as she leans forward trying to hear if he is still breathing. He holds his breath. "Teddy?" Victoire's voice now sounds panicked, and he can feel the exhale of his name on his face. It is now or never...

"Mwahaha!" He jumps up, cackling madly. Victoire lets out a high pitched scream, jumping backwards and landing in the snow on her behind.

Teddy is laughing uncontrollably, bent over double. A snowball sails narrowly past his head. "You GIT!" Victoire exclaims, chucking another- this one hits him square in the face.

He starts to back away as Victoire advances, red-faced with a full meter of Weasley anger. He might as well have a bulls eye tattooed to his forehead. He considers making a break for it, but before he can move Victoire has tackled him, and is punching every inch of him she can reach.

"Ow, OW! Gerroff me!" Teddy wheezes as Victoire continues to hit him. He is winded and cannot move from where she has pinned him to the ground underneath her. He thinks he wouldn't mind this position if it weren't for the fact that he is getting the living daylights kicked out of him.

At that moment he glimpses Harry tromping hurriedly through the snow towards him with Albus and James. He makes a strangled plea for help, but is cut off by Victoire. "You- _wanker_ -" she hisses, punctuating every word with a blow, "I thought you were HURT! I was scared to death, you bloody-"

Harry and his sons decide that Teddy is in good hands, and turn back towards the Burrow. He curses their laughter. "Oi! You're hurting me!" he cries. He is in pain.

"Well you deserve it!" Victoire is absolutely livid, and as scary as Grandma Weasley when she discovered that Uncle George had blown up the chicken shed (and the chickens) due to an experimental joke shop creation gone awry.

Teddy has to use all his force to pry Victoire away from him, rolling her over so that her back is to the snowy field, and she cannot move from underneath him. He had fantasized about this, but not quite with the same scenario. "Aargh! Get off me, Teddy Lupin!"

"Hmm... temtpting, but after that display of violence just now..." Teddy decides he likes having her body so close to his, even if there are fourteen layers of clothing between them. Victoire looks adorable in her knitted blue hat. It is the current color of his hair, and it is reflected by Victoire's eyes. "Yes... I think I'll stay right here, love."

Victoire freezes beneath him, her eyes wide. Teddy is puzzled, and she catches sight of his expression and shakes her head. _He had called her_ love _? WHAT?_

Now he is smiling bemusedly at her, and she hates herself when her lips twitch involuntarily into a smile. His eyes, a honeyed brown (he kept them this way because Victoire said it was her favorite), twinkle down at her, and she feels a nervous flutter in her stomach. She must be grimacing or making some strange face, for Teddy asks, "What's wrong?"

"Hmph. You are lying on top of me and it is cutting off my circulation!" Victoire frowns up at him. Teddy thinks its endearing.

Oh my. He is indeed lying on top of her... she needs to focus, to get the words out and tell Teddy what a big prat he is and to get his heavy self off of her, but Teddy's face distracts her, propped up by his hands on his chin, with elbows placed in the snow on either side of her head, so very close... she can see each little freckle on the bridge of his nose, the little scar under his left ear from when she had clipped him with a toy bludger so many years ago... his turquoise hair is falling into his eyes, and she wants to brush it away... she has to close her eyes firmly and reprimand herself for suddenly turning into a complete idiot. Anyways, it can't happen.

Teddy suddenly feels pity on Victoire, for she is silent and her face is changing expressions every second, and maybe he _has_ cut off her circulation and the lack of blood to her brain has made her slightly gaga. He still thinks she looks extremely cute, but rolls off her and offerns her a hand up.

She has forgotten her previous anger and accepts, and Teddy hauls her up. He dusts the snow off her hair absentmindedly and asks, "So why did you go completely bonkers on me?"

Victoire blushes as his finger accidentally brushes the corner of her lip. "I was just worried to death!" she managed. "And you were a complete arse, giving me a fright like that!"

"Aww, you actually care about me!" Teddy grins, and Victoire can't help but laugh at how goofy and happy he looks. "Hey. Christmas dinner is probably starting soon... Race you back to the Burrow!"

With that he is flying through the snow towards the oddly shaped merry-looking house, the flaps of his hat bouncing and the powdery snow bursting up into the air where his feet land, like a trail of pure white dust.

Victoire follows slowly, carefully stepping in each footprint Teddy has just made.


	5. Denial Is Better When You're Drunk

Too much firewhiskey she wasn't supposed to drink in the first place has left Victoire incredibly sloshed. Teddy is of age, but she is still sixteen and too much of a lightweight to stay sober past two drinks. Some part of her mind registers that perhaps this was a stupid idea, giving into her desire to try the alcohol, but she is too far gone to care.

She stumbles slightly as she makes her way around the chilly backyard of the Burrow. She is in a haze as she takes in her surroundings. The New Years party is well and alive, with friends and relatives all sipping champagne, opening exploding crackers filled with useless presents, and mingling. The lawn has been charmed to exude heat from the ground, making the night a little more pleasant, but people have still donned cloaks, coats, and heavy cardigans. Children amble around, excited but sleepy.

A countdown begins as the year winds down to the last ten seconds. A small hand tugs at the hem of her coat, and she looks down. Little roundfaced Frank Longbottom is giving her a sweet smile. She bends down and he asks, "Can you be my New Year's Kiss, Vicky?"

Victoire smiles amusedly at the little four year old, and as the clock strikes midnight and the Filibuster's Fireworks burst into fantastic shapes against the dark sky, Frank boldly gives her a quick peck on the cheek, giggling and running away. Victoire's eyes follow to where he's disappeared, into a little knot of Weasley and non-Weasley girls who have surrounded Teddy, all wanting a kiss. He looks bewildered and slightly frightened, and catching sight of Victoire, breaks away with relief clearly etched on his face.

The girls look rather ticked off at Victoire as Teddy lumbers over to her, grinning, stopping with his face little too close to her own. "Happy New Years, Tor!" he exclaims, and she can smell the firewhiskey on his breath, or is it hers as she replies?

She stumbles forward and he catches her, a little unsteady on his feet as well. They spot more alcohol on an abandoned table, and down it. Victoire grimaces slightly, but likes the feeling of warmth that spreads through her. "Cheers!" Teddy grins, clinking his empty champagne flute against hers, and then he walks off, disappearing into the crowd.

As the new year wears on, the festivities become more exuberant. Uncle Charlie and Uncle Ron are singing loudly and off-key along to some old song about a hot couldron full of love. Uncle George has slipped a potion into the punch bowl that makes the drinkers say rather inappropriate things- Aunt Ginny says something quite loudly to Uncle Harry and promptly looks mortified. As if on cue, Molly Weasley herds the little children into the house, tucking them in and refusing to give into their pleas to stay up.

Victoire yawns, shivering a little and huddling in her warm jacket against the frosty air. She is pleasantly buzzed and elated when she stumbles into Teddy once more. "I'm cold," she sings, and then adds as an afterthought, "I'm glad you're my best friend!"

The more sober of the two, Teddy laughs and pats her back. "Bedtime, Victoire."

"No way... I'm... completely-" Victoire argues, and catches her foot on a chairleg.

"Completely _drunk_ , that's what," Teddy retorts. She giggles as Teddy catches her, pulling her upright and shaking his head, steering her towards the Burrow. They trip and stumble their way into the house and up the flight of stairs to the room Victoire is sleeping in during the holiday break.

Rose and Lily are sound asleep in the room in charmed bunk beds, and Victoire wrinkles her nose. "How come you get your own bedroom?" she complains loudly, and Teddy has to shush her with his hand. She clambers up two more sets of flights, toward the tiny room on the right at the top of the landing.

"Tor, love, thats _my_ room," Teddy clarifies, but Victoire is already prying her boots off in the cramped little space with the single cot and barely any room to move.

"I like your room. Oh, how pretty!" Victoire falls towards the window, staring at the twinkling lights below with her face pressed to the cold glass. A moment later she is shrugging out of her white wool coat, throwing it haphazardly to the floor and slipping under the warm worn covers of the bed. Teddy resignedly realizes he is sleeping in the hall tonight. He makes to leave, his head feels light and he wants to lie down, when Victoire grabs his wrist- quite a strong grip for someone so intoxicated. "Stay."

"What?" Teddy is sensible enough to know what she means but drunk enough to not comprehend at all. She is gazing at him with her big, blue eyes, and all he can think is, _Victoire is so beautiful beautiful beautiful..._

Victoire shimmies over and pats the narrow space next to her on the cot, pulling Teddy towards her. He wonders if maybe this was a bad idea, but after all, she only liked him as a best friend... what harm could it do? He closes the door, slips out of his boots, gloves, and the turquoise sweater with the big "T" on it and places it on top of Victoire's coat, then slides under the duvet next to Victoire.

She flops an arm around his waist and snuggles into the side of his chest, and the smell of flowers and whiskey waft up from her hair. He turns on his side towards her, scared by how fast his heart is beating (shouldn't he be suffering from a coronary right about now?) and he almost passes out when his hand brushes against the bare skin of her stomach as he shifts his arm a bit- her silk top has ridden up. She smiles contentedly up at him and breathes, "Happy New Years, Teddy."

"You too, Victoire." He lets his arm wrap around her waist and they fall asleep, two drunk fools in denial.


	6. Romantic Gestures Are Scary

Teddy has taken to dreaming about Victoire at night, wishing she is beside him, not his pillow. The snores of the other boys in the dormitory do not lull him to sleep. He feels restless, he cannot get Victoire out of his mind. Her eyes, the color of sapphires, and the way they catch the light, sparkling just like jewels. Her laugh, experienced, of someone who is constantly humored. The way she holds herself, and is courteous to those who deserve a punching (although he did take care of Roger Thomas for her, mates or no mates, no one messed with Victoire and got away with it.) Day after day it sinks in more and more that he is completely and hopelessly head over heels for his best friend.

Perhaps it is the feverish atmosphere that has in recent days taken over Hogwarts castle. Maybe it is the pinks and reds lining the hallways, the excited whispers of girls as they pass by him, the little charmed hearts that float above their heads during dinner. He is not fond of Valentine's Day. He is making his way back to the dormitories from dinner when he sees Kara Finnegan break away from a gaggle of giggling girls, heading towards him with a determined look on her face. "Hi Teddy," she bats her eyelashes at him, and he feels like a trapped animal.

"I've got to go... I have some urgent business, sorry, really, got to go," Teddy dashes away. He doesn't care if he is being rude anymore, if one more girl comes up to him coyly asking about Hogsmeade... He really detests Valentine's day.

The library seems like the perfect hideaway. Usually those fervently seeking the perfect Valentine do not reside in such a quiet, boring place. He hurries in, looking over his shoulder to make sure he is not being followed, when he hears an all too familiar voice. "Running away from your fanclub, then?"

It is Victoire, curled up in a comfortable chair, with reading glasses perched on her nose and a book in her lap. She has to be the cutest bookworm he's ever seen. Teddy decides against his better judgement to flop down into the chair opposite her, scooting it closer until their knees are almost touching, and grinning, he asks, "As are you, I presume?"

Victoire smiles, looking up from her book at him. "You could say that."

"What are you reading?" Teddy plucks the worn book from her hands, curious. " _Pride and Prejudice? The best-loved romance of all time,_ interesting!"

Victoire is blushing as she snatches the book back. "Just some muggle book Aunt Hermione gave me." She stashes the book behind her, not liking the amused look that Teddy is giving her.

"Our Victoire, a closet romantic, eh?" Teddy grins, leaning forward and pinching her cheek with misplaced affection the way Auntie Muriel, that dreadful woman, used to when she was younger.

Victoire is sure she is the color of a tomato. How is it that being within close proximity of Teddy and his infectious smile can make her completely weak at the knees? His grin is a little crooked, and his eyes crinkle slightly around the corners in mirth, and she feels a sudden mad desire to reach out and touch his face, the tiny dimple on his right cheek when he smiles. She hopes he does not catch the momentary glazed look on her face, and shakes herself mentally before huffing at his jab and pulling out the novel once more. "Its a good book," she defends.

"Hey, nothing wrong with a little romance," Teddy says, shrugging and flicking a stray hair out of her eyes.

Victoire can't help but smile a little wistfully. "Yeah." They sit in amicable silence, Victoire reading the same page of the book over and over again without absorbing any meaning, and Teddy sneaking glances at her every few seconds. The feeling of butterflies in her stomach is not altogether unpleasant when he accidentally catches her eye and smiles.

Teddy breaks the silence a few minutes later. "Victoire?"

Her heart beat quickens as she feels his warm brown gaze upon her. "Hm?" she asks, eyes deliberately still on page 164.

"You're lovely."

Victoire is completely still for a moment, and then she has shot up so quickly he doesn't even catch the motion with his eyes, and she is mumbling, "That's nice, yes, I have to go, its getting late, I should sleep, you should sleep too. Okay. Bye Teddy." She is gathering her bag and the blood is pounding through her veins and her face is flushed and she wants to kiss the boy but she can't because he doesn't like her that way, because he is just her sweet and wonderful and perfect best friend and she can't bear to lose him, so she runs.

Teddy watches her bolt and curses himself. He has scared her off, definitely.

 


	7. Dancing With The Enemy

Gryffindor has just won against Slytherin, and Teddy Lupin is riding high on a wave of glorification. The common room is in an uproar, filled with a sea of red and gold (and the roaring, lifelike head of a lion that had been mounted upon the wall since before any of them could remember). Every Gryffindor older than fourth year is busy celebrating, while Teddy is standing with his feet planted firmly at the foot of the staircase of the boys' dormitories, facing an especially indignant James Potter. "Sorry, James, rules are rules. You can't be down here."

"But Ted-dy!" James fairly whines, and Teddy has to supress a grin because the boy reminds him so much of himself at that age. However, he is a seventh year, and Head Boy besides, and it is his duty to make sure that the younger students aren't subjected to any kind of raucious behavior. Older Gryffindors were supposed to be the paragon of the perfect role model, after all.

So Teddy plants his hands on his hips and gives James a firm glare. "You go up to your room right now, young man."

"Okay, _mother_ ," James bites sullenly, but as he turns to head back up the stairs, there is an unmistakable mischievous gleam in his eyes.

"And I _will_ owl your mother if you do _anything_ that causes trouble," Teddy smirks, because now James' brown eyes widen with fear of the possibility that a fiery haired woman sharing his eyes might send him a rather nasty howler, and he has pivoted on his heel and dashed up the stairs.

Congratulating himself on another job well done, Teddy makes his way through the crowded common room again. Music is blaring from a charmed CD player and everywhere he turns, people are slapping his back and congratulating him. He worries that his head might be getting so big that it might explode soon, but he is too happy to care. He is even able to smile civilly at Roger Thomas, who haltingly acknowleges his talent as a keeper.

He thinks his hair must be a turquoise brilliant enough to blind the world, but he can feel himself deflating by the second as he cranes his neck trying to spot the one person he actually wants to see right now. He hasn't seen Victoire since before the match and he wants to make small talk about the game, but really he just wants to be near her. She has taken to avoiding him when possible, under the pretense of studying, but Teddy thinks it might have something to do with his spontaneous outburst a few weeks ago. He had been tired and it had just slipped out... couldn't a girl take a compliment anymore?

He is snapped out of his reverie by a hand waving across his face. "Hello?" The voice is not the one he wants to hear, and when he looks down it is not the girl he wants to see, but Jessica McKinley, the Ravenclaw, is short and cute and curvy and Teddy is a boy, so he smiles winningly at her.

"You were _amazing_ today, Teddy!" she exclaims, and Teddy feels his face turn slightly pink with embarassment as she continues to shower praise upon him. "Honestly, the most fantastic playing I've ever seen!" He wonders how she got into the Gryffindor common room, and why she is so excited when the fate of this match means his team will be playing her house's team in three weeks for the House Cup (Gryffindor would surely win).

He is suddenly feeling the need to break away from Jessica, who is fawning over him with a motive other than just to congratulate him, and so he searches desperately for a halo of silvery hair while trying to loosen Jessica's grip on his wrists (when had she grabbed them?) and disappear into the throng.

"Let's dance?" It is more of a command and Jessica is dragging him into the center of the room, where couples are dancing to a fast paced song. Just as they get there, the tempo changes as a slow ballad starts up. Teddy curses himself as Jessica clenches his left hand in her own and places her other hand on his shoulder.

He has to do the proper thing and dance with her for at least a song before he makes his getaway, so he sighs inwardly, smiles at her even though his hair has turned a dull purple and he is _not_ enjoying himself, and places his free hand on her waist, wishing it was Victoire's, and looks into her dark eyes, wishing they were cerulean blue, and then he really is looking into Victoire's eyes, from across the room, and she looks stricken and is running up the stairs to her dormitory, long hair flying behind her.

The door slams and Teddy pulls away from Jessica mid-song, mumbling apologies as her face looks suprised, then angry, and then cold as she stalks away and he is left alone in the middle of a makeshift dancefloor surrounded by happy couples.

 

**Oh, the drama! I have the next chapter completed, it just needs some editing so I will update soon. Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing, I've decided I really like reviews haha. Thanks also to everyone who has been following this story, hope you like it =)**

**xx Audrey**


	8. I'd Like To Get Away From You

 

Victoire tries to walk faster, hiding her face behind her scarf, hoping to make it into the greenhouse before Teddy can catch up with her. She is aware of the ever-closer sounding yells of “Tor! Wait!” and out of the corner of her eye she can see him sprinting through a Care of Magical Creatures class, causing one student to lose control of his Blast-Ended-Skrewt. There is an explosion, panicked voices, and the booming consolations of Hagrid, who insists that really, they are gentle creatures. The student’s uniform is badly singed, and he looks half afraid, half mad. Victoire bites back a laugh as she strides purposefully towards her class.

“Victoire, wait up, for the love of Merlin” Teddy wheezes, too near. She will have to run for it. She is about to, too, but he has caught up to her and grabbed her wrist with a vice-like grip so she cannot get away. He is gasping, bent over, having sprinted the entire length of the grounds once spotting her cursed recognizable hair from afar. She is half touched that he has taken such great lengths to get a moment with her over the past couple weeks, but she is also feeling hurt, and angry, and does not want to have to deal with Teddy right now. Or ever, for that matter.

 

 

“Shouldn’t you be getting to class?” she asks, and she knows Teddy can hear the bite in her voice. Her eyes are trained at the spot above his left shoulder, but she doesn’t miss the change in Teddy’s hair color, from worry hair to a broody, stormy purple.

 

 

 Teddy sets his shoulders and takes a deep breath. He means business. “Why have you been avoiding me?”

 

 

“What are you talking about?” Victoire lies, knowing it is as transparent as cellophane, but she is desperate enough to not want to face him, to try and just close herself off from him. She tries to wrench her hand free of his, but fails. _When had he grown so strong?_

 

“Stop playing around, Tor,” Teddy deadpans. “You’re upset with me, and I need to know why. Now.”

 

Victoire looks toward the Herbology greenhouse. Professor Longbottom may be a family friend, but it would not stop him from doling out the consequence for lateness. “You should go so the both of us don’t lose any more points.”

 

“No,” Teddy says resolutely. “Not until I know the reason my best friend has been avoiding me like a plague for the past two weeks!”

 

There it is again- that best friend business. Somewhere along the lines, she has crossed the line between wanting friendship, and wanting more. Being _best friends_ isn’t enough for Victoire Weasley any more. But although she knows she can never be more to him, she also knows that she couldn’t ever lose Teddy’s friendship, and so she sighs and says, “Don’t be a silly bint, Teddy, I’m fine. I’ve been busy with studying, and I really do need to get to class.”

 

Her argument sounds weak even to her own ears, and Teddy is looking at her funnily, one eyebrow quirked up. It makes her nervous. “Herbology doesn’t start for another five minutes.”

 

He is right of course. Students are just beginning to trickle in, and are giving them strange looks. Suddenly Teddy has yanked her arms and they are behind a little stand of trees, out of sight from curious classmates. Victoire finds herself with her back pressed to the trunk of the oak tree, with Teddy standing a foot away from her, arms on either side of her shoulders. She is frozen to the spot, and can’t help but to look up at his face, and he is looking her with such intensity that she thinks she might die because her heart is beating much too fast and too hard and by the laws of physics should break right through her ribcage. She exhales, not even realizing she has been holding her breath.

 

“I’m sorry I danced with Jessica. I don’t like her. She asked me to dance, and I’ve always been told by Gran to never say no to a girl asking for a dance.” This comes out in one apologetic breath softly wafting over her face, smelling of chocolate and peppermint, and she wonders idly if he keeps his breath so fresh so he can snog girls on the go. Inside she knows he is not that type of person, but she is bitter and bitterness brings out ugly thoughts. Teddy continues on his ramble. “I’m sorry, Victoire, I never meant to make you upset-“

 

“Why would I be upset about that?” Victoire’s eyes have narrowed and her voice is several notches shriller, and her face is red and she feels like crying. “I don’t care who you dance with, Teddy Lupin! I don’t care who you fancy! Why would I? I’m your best friend!”

 

Teddy is staring at her and she can almost see the wheels turning inside his head- he always was rather bright. His expression goes from frustration to what surely is pity, and Victoire is furious that he feels bad for her, that he knows, he knows everything, that he can read her like an open book, and he doesn’t feel the same way. “Victoire…“ he says her name so softly, so gently, as if to protect her being from the impending fall.

 

It takes Victoire a moment to realize that his face is inches from hers, so close that she can see each individual eyelash, and it takes her a moment to remember where she is, and why she is here, and Teddy cannot _do this_ , be this _close_ to her, when she knows he is not going to kiss her, and it really is unfair because he has effectively taken her heart and trampled on it, and she pushes him backwards, and yells “Leave me alone!” and then she is flying over the ground and into the greenhouse.

 

Teddy groans in frustration, leaning against the tree and looking up at the sky, broken up by the branches with budding leaves. He thought she might have fancied him back, but obviously he had been wrong. And now he has probably wrecked their friendship for good.

**Sorry for the wait, I got really busy doing last minute summerwork. Here it is, chapter 8, and oh how the suspense builds! We're getting very close =) As always, thanks for the reviews, and for everyone who has kept reading thus far. I promise you won't be disappointed!**

****

**xx_Audrey**


	9. Confusion Confusion

 

He has never played so poorly in his entire life- not even in 2nd year when he first began. Ravenclaw scores goal after goal after goal, and he can literally feel the heat of the glares his teammates are sending him from across the pitch. Today he does not deserve the title of Captain, or Keeper, for that matter.

By some miracle they manage to win the House Cup, 320-310, and he can hear the cheers of relief and the rest of the team is in a circle around young James Potter who has definitely inherited the seeking abilities his father and mother possessed. The second year is phenomenal, and today he is the star of the team. Teddy hopes he won't have to endure another round of scolding James for staying downstairs past midnight for the party that would surely ensue in the common room tonight.

No one has killed Teddy, but no one congratulates him, either. He had never been so distracted in his life, with Victoire's angry words echoing ricocheting off the walls of his mind over and over again. His performance was abysmal, to put it kindly.

As he trudges through the portrait hole a good half hour after the last of his teammates, he is assuaged by the sound of loud music, laughing students, and many a roar from the lion's head on the wall. If Teddy didn't have a headache before, he definitely has a splitting one now. Mood stormy and hair nearly black, Teddy climbs the stairs to his dormitory and flops himself down onto his four-poster bed.

He hears a shriek from beneath him. Jumping away, he tumbles to the floor and grasps for his wand, pointing it at whatever was in his bed. Victoire Weasley's silver head appears from under the covers, and Teddy loses all powers of speech, his mouth dropping and his wand falling to the floor.

"I'm- I'm sorry, I'm leaving-" Victoire stutters, trying to untangle herself and failing rather miserably.

Teddy just stares, because surely, Victoire Weasley, the object of his affections since he started appreciating the plus points of the opposite sex, _cannot_ be in his _bed_. That only happens in his fantasies, and now Teddy wonders if he is a little more tired than he thought, because his mind is playing tricks on him.

And then Victoire has managed to free herself and has ungracefully half jumped, half fallen off the bed and her foot comes in contact with his ribcage, which is already quite sore from a bludger earlier in the day.

She falls in a heap on top of him, and quickly scrambles for the door, and Teddy lunges and grabs her wrist. "Quite honestly, I'm sick of you running away every time you see me."

Victoire stops struggling and turns around. "I'm guessing we won the Cup?"

Teddy has a mad urge to laugh and cry at once. "What exactly were you doing in my bed?"

Victoire is blushing- Teddy knows it even in the dimming light, and she fishes out an old scrapbook from the tangled sheets. Teddy immediately recognizes it: on the cover, in faded letters, were the words _Victoire & Teddy, Best Friends Forever_.

She had given it to him before he left for Hogwarts for the first time, and had diligently pasted in every photograph she owned of them two from the moment she was born (he still remembers this picture- in it his one year old self is looking warily at a newborn Victoire, poking her every so often before Harry's arms hastily lift him away from the sleeping baby.) He refocuses on the scenario ahead of him. "Sorry, that doesn't explain much. Do you do this often?"

"It's a one time occurance, I promise. I just wanted to look at these old pictures, and I guess I got a little too comfortable... sorry." Victoire avoids his eyes purposefully. He can read her too easily as it is, and she doesn't want him to know the whole story. Like the fact that she had run up here because she missed him and had cried over each picture and curled up into a ball under the covers and inhaled the cinnamony chocolatey scent because her nose has really missed Teddy since everything went haywire in her heart.

Teddy studies her intently, his eyebrow quirked, and if he suspects anything more than the answer she has provided him, he keeps the doubts to himself. With a wave of his wand the room is bathed in light as the lamps alight, and he sits on the floor with his back to the bed and pats the space next to him. Victoire hesitates, and he grins, "I don't bite, regardless of any werewolf blood."

"Right," she manages with a smile, sitting down beside him. Their shoulders are touching and Victoire is having problems thinking straight, and Teddy is giving her that _look_ again, the one she can't place, where his warm dark eyes seem to be smiling and frowning and puzzling and it seems as if she is all that matters, the way he looks at her.

"You okay, love?"

Oh no, he called her _love_ again. Why is he so mean to her? He must know that she fancies him, he wouldn't have apologized about Jessica Bones otherwise, would he? Unless he thought it was because she held quite a grudge towards the girl for being the one Roger cheated on her with, and as a best friend he ought to not be dancing with the enemy... she lets out a sigh of relief. Yes, that must be it. Her secret is safe.

That's what she thinks at least, until suddenly Teddy shuts the book and kisses her.

 

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**I know a lot of you are thinking, FINALLY! And a lot are probably a little upset that it just ends like that. But done worry, one chapter left and in it are many answers! Thank you soooo much to all my readers and reviewers, every word of feedback makes me =) =) =)!!!**

**xx Audrey**


	10. I'm Glad You're My Best Friend

 

And finally, _finally_ he is kissing her, this moment that he has been dreaming of for so long has finally arrived. Except that Victoire has frozen on the spot so he feels like he is kissing a mannequin. A mannequin with perfect, sweet strawberry lip gloss flavored lips.

After a fraction of a second he starts to panic, because what on earth was he thinking? He can't just attack the poor girl like that! She will probably slap him and never speak to him again, but the feel of her soft lips against his makes him lose all inhibitions.And then, miraculously, Victoire unfreezes, and he feels her arms wrap around his neck and she is kissing him back fiercely, and Teddy sees fireworks and his head is swimming from shock and delight and lack of air. He breaks away after what seems like a second and an hour all at once. "I'm assuming you fancy me back, then," he declares.

"Seems like it," Victoire replies, out of breath, and he can barely see but her smile is brighter than the sun, and blue her eyes gleam as if they are reflecting the stars, and then she closes the distance between them, ever so slowly, and Teddy is in heaven, because every fiber in his body is jumping for joy and his hair is flashing the colors of the rainbow, and Victoire Weasley is _kissing him_ like she means it.

"Do you love me?" She asks, her breath sweet and so close to his own. She is absently running her hands through his hair (something she has been wanting to do for a while, but she's not going to admit anything of the sort.)

Teddy inhales flowers and ginger as he traces kisses down her jawline. "Yep. I have since forever, I think."

"Thats just absurd, Teddy." Victoire pulls away, looking annoyed.

Teddy starts to feel a mild sense of panic, because this is not how it is supposed to go. He has just confessed his true love for her, for Merlin's sake. "Well maybe it started out as a simple crush, but I definitely love you now." He is looking into her eyes earnestly, trying to convey his sincerity.

"I love you, too. It just took me a while to realize it, I think," Victoire muses, picking up the scrapbook again.

"Hm. That's interesting." Teddy is distracted, because he is a boy and the girl he loves has just cold-turkey quit being more than friendly.

"Why didn't you tell me before? That you fancied me?" Teddy jumps as he receives a stern glare, so like Headmistress McGonagall's.

He shrugs. "You never really gave a hint that you had any feelings for me, you know. And when I got close, you ran away."

"I suppose I can forgive you then."

Teddy laughs. "Forgive me? You've been tearing my heart out and making treacle tart with it for the past few years, you know."

Victoire sniffs delicately. "I suppose. Well, it is getting late, and I'd hate for someone to walk in... especially someone related to me..." She rises up from the floor.

Teddy jumps up also and wants to scream, _No! We were having a great make-out session! Why are we stopping?!_

He has momentarily forgotten that Victoire knows him rather well, but is reminded when she starts to laugh. "Shut up, Teddy Lupin, we'll have plenty of time to snog later." But even as she says that, she allows Teddy to wrap his arms around her and and he is sure she doesn't mind, because he can feel her heartbeat thudding against his own, and he is running his hands through her long, silky hair and just holding her, and he thinks this must be the most perfect moment in his life.

They can ask questions later, and they can worry about the reactions of a no doubt furious and soon-to-be murderous Bill Weasley and the rest of the family and nosy James later, and they can figure out the rest of their lives and take exams and decide what to name their children later. Right now Teddy Lupin has finally figured out where he belongs. Or maybe he knew it all along, and was too scared to believe it could actually happen.

He belongs with Victoire Weasley, _to_ Victoire Weasley, here and now and forever, through the times when she is being sweet as candied cherries or absolutely _infuriating_ with her coy smiles and veiled insults, through everything.

Teddy glances down at the scrapbook lying abandoned at their feet. "Victoire?"

"Hmm Teddy?" She is smiling into his chest.

"I'm glad you're my best friend." _And so much more_.

 

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**Ahhh, the end at last!**

**I hope you enjoyed reading it! Thanks for all the reviews, for the reads, the stats thing which I just discovered tells me I have QUITE A LOT OF HITS, that's pretty exciting! Thanks to my lovely reviewers: various Anonymouses, abok1972, Karen, vodkaholic, V.A., AnotherDreamer, truebleu, orangemice311, and whoever still has to review =) =)**

**I'm sad its done, but you should totally read my other ongoing project- Abbot to Zabini: A Page in the Life.**

**Thanks again, and have a good rest of the summer everyone!**

**xx_Audrey**


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